I’ve mentioned X-Plane before – it’s a flight simulator that strives to be as accurate flight modeling -wise as possible. Realism is one of their goals and it’s also unique in that it’s available for Mac/Windows and Linux (version 8 that is). (There is flightgear also, but X-Plane has still felt like better competition for Microsoft’s Flight Simulator line.) Anyway… Version 8 had linux support. Version 9 has beta’s out now for Windows and Mac, but there are rumors in the forums that version 9 may not see linux support. (Apparently the person in charge of the linux port has been hired by Google and was working on the linux port in his free time gratis…) I hope we’ll see a version 9 of X-Plane for linux. I wish I could lend help, but bash scripting is pretty much the zenith of my coding skills. (BTW – version 9 LOOKS nice from the screenshots I’ve seen. Here come a few more x-plane related thoughts….

X-Plane supports some cool plugins like this flight verification plugin that can generate a file readable by google earth for post flight analysis.

Sun Java security updates/ Windows software update rant...Incidents.org has the story on Sun's release of new versions of the Java Runtime Environment and the Java SDK to fix some remote security vulnerabilities. These security vulnerabilities could allow malicious, untrusted code to compromise a user's computer. Sun recommends that users update to the newest version of the SDK......

Sleuthkit - windows and linux file recoveryhttp://www.sleuthkit.org/ Sluethkit... is a collection of tools for forensic analysis of a system. Usually it's something that would be done when you've had a suspected rootkit on the system and you boot to another operating system with sluethkit installed (maybe livecd/etc.) and want to try to analyze and hunt for......

Asus Eee: I'm In Techno-Lust With YouA year ago, I was looking for a portable computer that could allow me to blog from places like Aruba. I thought I found an acceptable solution with a PDA and bluetooth keyboard. It didn't work quite as well as I hoped. As two pieces, you can't put it on......

Wacom Bamboo Pen TabletWith the helps of this canvas, you can turn your PC or Laptop into a drawing board. This is a product from Wacom who is one of the known brand specialized in graphics related products. When you connect this Bamboo Tablet to your PC, you can directly write on it......

Apple Puts the Kybosh on Clones[/caption]Tech giant Apple has taken on some serious legal maneuvering to quash clones of its uber-popular Mac and laptops.Â A California judge recently agree with Apple that computer maker Pystar was infringing on their rights, violating copyrights and a whole bunch of other stuff by making Mac clones. While Pystar......